1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paper feeder apparatus and a facsimile apparatus or similar printing apparatus having the paper feeder apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 5, a paper feeder used in a facsimile apparatus comprises a lower document guide 1 for setting documents, which is concurrently a paper holder, an upper document guide 2 positioned above the lower document guide 1, a paper feed roller 3, and a separator 4 for preventing double feeding of documents cooperates with the paper feed roller 3. A pressing part 5 is mounted to the upper document guide 2 at the support point O and presses the separator 4 towards the paper feed roller 3, and a spring member 6 such as a compression spring presses the edge of the pressing part so that the pressing part 5 presses the separator 4. A document guide panel 7 that includes a pair of leaf springs at both edges of the separator 4 for guiding the front edge of a document to the paper feed roller 3 and for pressing the document to the paper feed roller 3 is also provided.
When documents are set in the documents holder, the documents guide panel 7 pushes the documents gently towards the paper feed roller 3. Then the paper feed roller 3 rotates to send the document between the paper feed roller 3 and the separator 4, preventing double feeding of documents by the paper feed roller 3 and the separator 4. Thus, the document is transferred to a scanner section positioned downstream of the paper feeder.
In the conventional paper feeder, a pair of leaf springs is used as document guide panel 7 for guiding the front edge of a document and for pressing the document to the paper feed roller gently. However, pressing power applied to a document by the pair of leaf springs is designed to be very small (for example, about 10 to 20g). As a result, the leaf springs are small and easily deformable, hence great attention is necessary for handling and installing them. Further, because the conventional document guide 7 uses the spring power of the leaf springs for pressing a document to the paper feed roller, high accuracy production (accuracy in size and spring constant) is necessary to avoid irregularity or variation of the pressing power. As a result, significant manufacturing and assembly costs cannot be avoided.